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Lawrenceville
Links * http://www.pittsburghneighborhoodtours.com/pr13/neighborhoods/default.asp?nHood=2 Web * http://www.topix.com/city/lawrenceville-pa Row House Cinema * Indegogo crowdsource efforts: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/row-house-cinema * Media School Sale * Pittsburgh Public Schools voted 7-1 to sell the former Washington school building in Lawrenceville to Nemo Investments Capital for $200,000, as of June 2009. The developer has proposed converting the site into a hotel. http://www.wqed.org/mag/features/0706/neighborhoods4.shtml Median Home Price: $56,000 Population: 10,590 Factoid: Unofficial motto: "Beer, Boutiques and Bowling Since 1988" Butler Street Boho Downstairs, it's a 1950s taproom turned into a sleek bar. Upstairs, it's a music club that jumps to the newest DJ beats. Transformed by a couple of New York transplants, brillobox incorporates the history and future of Lawrenceville. Spanning Civil War-era storefronts with fresh coats of chartreuse paint, lace-curtain row homes and a whole new generation of people from somewhere else, Larryville is suddenly on everyone's radar. "It's a cult," Kitty Julian says conspiratorially. Marketing director for Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, this eight-year resident may be wrong. The word is definitely out on the city's fastest-changing neighborhood, transforming itself more than two years in advance of a major-league new neighbor: the new Children's Hospital on Penn Avenue. Lawrenceville streetFrom the landmark Doughboy statue near 34th Street, where Penn Avenue and Butler Street diverge, Lawrenceville stretches away from downtown along the Allegheny River to 62nd Street. Along the way it picks up a funky shopping stretch, an 1840 cemetery, pre-Civil War housing stock and a collection of artist-hipsters who live happily among families that emigrated from Europe two generations ago. Allegheny CemeteryGateway to Allegheny Cemetery. "Allegheny Cemetery is the heart and history of the neighborhood," says Julian, of 47th Street, who frequently takes her toddler there. "It's timeless and uplifting, just amazing to visit. And there's lots of wildlife. When you walk in, it's like, cue the deer! You're surrounded by two centuries of funereal art, with fountains in summer. It's a magical place." Retail shops--funky clothes, antiques and art--have sprouted on Butler Street, where brightly painted facades beckon. And here, bowling is chic: Arsenal Lanes packs in hipsters for beer, karaoke, live music and gutter balls. Homes on many of the narrow side streets offer prime single-family real estate. Front porches and back alleys give neighbors plenty of face time. "I'm not worried about gentrification--we have houses of all shapes and sizes--but I am amazed to see people spending more than $200,000," says Julian. PNC BankThe neoclassical grandeur of PNC Bank enhances Butler Street. Penn Avenue's transformation has been slower than Butler's, but it's being kick-started by the new-wave brillobox, the former Penn Cafe re-opened by Renee Ickes and Eric Stern last year. "Larryville reminds me of Williamsburg," says Ickes, referring to the Brooklyn neighborhood where she and husband Eric Stern lived before moving here in 2005. "I'm shocked at how vibrant and creative the neighborhood is, and how well it's supported us." Bus No. 91 zips locals to the Golden Triangle in 15 minutes, but they're equally happy to walk or pedal to destinations. Stern jumps onto his bike and crosses the 31st Street bridge to the North Shore Trail for a workout; dog-walkers like the cemetery and Arsenal Park. Details URA approves $2 million purchase of Lawrenceville site :By Mark Belko, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 2008 The city's Urban Redevelopment Authority board approved the $2 million purchase of an old industrial site in Lawrenceville today, with hopes of transforming it into a hub for manufacturing, distribution or light industry. The board unanimously supported the deal with Tippins International Inc. for the purchase of the 21.7-acre property, whose details were worked out about an hour before its regular monthly meeting. The site, on the Allegheny River front, once housed a steel manufacturing plant, but now is vacant except for a private marina and a raw steel storage facility owned by the Allegheny Valley Railway. Rob Stephany, URA acting executive director, said the agency sees the land, adjacent to the 62nd Street Bridge and across the river from routes 28 and 8 as a possible home for manufacturing, light industry or distribution. The URA hopes to close on the purchase in 45 to 60 days. It plans to begin remediating the site and demolishing old buildings before winter. Mr. Stephany said the URA would begin talking to potential tenants or purchasers immediately. State Sen. Jim Ferlo, a URA board member and former city council member who has tried for years to generate interest in redeveloping the site, said he was "real grateful" for the purchase. He said he sees the potential for using the tract to relocate distributors or other industries from other parts of the Lawrenceville area and perhaps relieve truck traffic on Butler Steet or free up other property for residential or commercial uses. Also today, the URA board approved final drawings and financing, and executed deeds for the redevelopment of the former G.C. Murphy store and several other Fifth Avenue properties Downtown into apartments, shops and fitness space; sold a number of Hill District lots on Centre Avenue and Hemans Street to the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh for $237,250 for the Hill YMCA; and authorized the hiring of Philadelphia consultant TimHaahs to study future parking needs in the burgeoning East Liberty commercial district. category:where